


12. Cider

by greywolfheir



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Cider, Gen, hisorical, wassailing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2013-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-05 07:50:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1091424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greywolfheir/pseuds/greywolfheir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor teaches Clara about Wassailing</p>
            </blockquote>





	12. Cider

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for any and all historical inaccuracies, misconstrued traditions, or any generally offending material. I found out about Wassailing 10 minutes before writing this fic, and I thought it seemed really cool.

“So, all time favorite Christmas tradition throughout the ages—go,” Clara said, sitting on the steps of the TARDIS.

The Doctor thought about it for a second before smiling. “Wassailing.”

“What you mean like the cider?” Clara asked, tilting her head.

“No!” the Doctor said with an offended voice, “Not just that. It’s Christmas caroling and festivities and so much more. Everyone celebrates it!”

“Um…no they don’t,” Clara said. “They just call the cider Wassail and drink it around Christmas time. Or…well, I guess there was that song…”

“Exactly! On the twelfth night—oh let me just show you,” The Doctor said, flipping some switches. The TARDIS started up and started making its signature noise.

“We’ll be back in time for Christmas won’t we?” Clara called over the noise.

“It’s a time machine. Of _course_ we’ll be back in time for Christmas,” the Doctor said defensively.

 

* * *

 

They walked out into snow-filled Medieval England, and then into a building where there seemed to be a loud feast going on. No one was eating anything and plates were being brought out to the tables, so Clara assumed they hadn’t started yet. She and the Doctor took a seat without anyone noticing.

“This is the first part of it,” the Doctor shouted to her over the noise. “It’s a feast to begin the ceremony.”

Clara nodded but couldn’t say anything since a man walked in and everyone started cheering. He was a short, stocky man covered in many furs and a bit more jewels and gold than the others present. A servant passed him a very large, decorated bowl. He took it and held it out towards the group of people about to feast.

“Was hael!” he shouted before taking a sip from it. Everyone was cheering again, and some practically attacked the food. The lord passed the bowl to the person next to him at the table.

The Doctor grinned over at Clara. “We can eat now. Wassailing has started.”

Clara was excited to dig in. Most of the food looked questionable but she loved the pastries. It was always fun to eat turkey legs as well, especially without having to worry about eating delicately. It wasn’t long before the bowl had made its way to her, though, and she looked at it warily.

“Do they really expect me to drink this?” she asked. “What’s even in it?”

“It’s called a loving cup and it’s just got some bread, apples and cider in it,” the Doctor said. He looked at those who had drunk it before Clara and made a face. “We’re all supposed to drink it, though I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to sort of pretend.”

Clara nodded and put the cup to her lips just long enough so it looked like she took a sip and passed it to the Doctor who did the same. The bowl continued to be passed around, and when it reached the last person, everyone seemed to have gotten the signal and stood up. They all grabbed a torch and headed straight outside.

“What are we doing now?” Clara said as she grabbed a torch from the wall.

“Now we go and bless the apple trees,” the Doctor said with a grin. “So they can be healthy next year and make cider.”

Clara didn’t know what to think of that but she simply followed the men, shivering a bit in the cold. They all ran around, looking at the trees for a second, then moving on, there was lots of shouting until eventually someone shouted. “I’ve found it!”

Clara and the Doctor raced over with everyone else and circled around the tree. It seemed taller than the rest, but before Clara could confirm this with the Doctor, the men all began singing a song. Singing was more of a relative term, though, since it was more shouting, but Clara gave them the benefit of the doubt in this case. After the last “note” had ended, the lord took a drinking bladder and started pouring more liquid on the roots that the Doctor said was more cider.

“Now comes the caroling,” the Doctor said excitedly as they followed one group of men out again.

Clara also had to call caroling a relative term, because this wasn’t kindly going door to door singing prepared Christmas songs. No, this was doing more of that shout-singing at the door of someone’s home, offering the homeowners some cider, and then shoving their way inside to eat food and even _more_ cider. Clara and the Doctor got things handed to them left and right, and had to eat or drink it. Clara was already feeling a bit tipsy and there were plenty more houses to go.

At around the tenth house, Clara was having the time of her life, absolutely smashed, and arguing with the Doctor.

“We can’t goooo,” she whined. “It’s just _started_.”

“I think you’ve gotten the basics of it, Clara,” the Doctor said reasonably. “Don’t you want to be back in time for Christmas.”

A sober Clara would point out that it was a time machine and when they left wouldn’t matter. A drunk Clara nodded and followed the Doctor outside.

In the TARDIS, Clara gave the Doctor a sloppy kiss on the cheek and said, “You were right. I love Wazzlin’, we should do it again sometime.”

“We’ll see,” the Doctor said with a laugh.


End file.
